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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25513348">Kowai/Kawaii</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account'>orphan_account</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Haikyuu!!</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Asahi is BABY, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Miscommunication, Movie Nights, Nishinoya is hopeless, Sleepovers, but humor too, language flubbs</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 06:02:31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,322</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25513348</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“What…” Asahi’s voice is trembling very slightly, “what do you think of me?”</p><p>Did he want to be honest? Did he want to admit how handsome, rugged, amazingly sweet, and kind Asahi was to him? How he’d wanted to admit his feelings to his upperclassmen for so long?</p><p>“Kw-“ He stammered, which was rare for him.</p><p>Asahi watched in anticipation.</p><p>“Koa-woai!” He spits, as quietly as he can. It’s a single word, and it means everything. Cute. Asahi is so damn cute, it’s hard to even comprehend. Flustered by even saying it, Nishinoya didn’t realize that the three syllables have changed to two. </p><p>Asahi doesn’t hear cute. </p><p>He hears scary.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Azumane Asahi/Nishinoya Yuu</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>32</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Kowai/Kawaii</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hi yes hello! This is the first multi-chap fic I've written in years and my first Haikyuu fic! I was convinced by a friend on discord to just *go for it* and write what I want to see in the fanfic universe (a Asanoya multi-chap) and that's exactly what I'm going to do. More notes from me at the end, but an important note for the story:</p><p>As one would expect for a story based in Japan, all characters are speaking Japanese. This has been tediously translated by yours truly for your enjoyment (I'm joking). BUT! A quintessential point of this story is the distinction between these two words:</p><p>Kowai (koh-why): Scary</p><p>Kawaii (kah-wa-yee): Cute</p><p>They can sound very similar when mumbled! What that will entail in the story? Who knows....</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Do you think anyone is actually asleep?” Nishinoya whispered, turning over in his futon.</p><p>“No,” Asahi responded with a half whisper, half chuckle. He turned over himself, facing the libero, “Can you not hear the whispers?”</p><p>Nishinoya paused and listened as closely as he could; Asahi was right. There were quiet voices and gentle snores alike dancing through the stale air of the sleeping room. It was spring training week, so they were all assumed asleep-on-arrival by their coach and teacher, but some of them still must have had some energy. Nishinoya himself felt a bubble of alertness in his chest. He couldn’t sleep, not yet. Not while Asahi was awake next to him, at least.</p><p>Nishinoya Yuu probably wouldn’t even admit this to the gods of volleyball themselves, but he had Asahi Azumane on the brain. It wasn’t a constant 24/7 news cycle of Asahi, but more of a gentle pattering of rain. He would be practicing, doing homework, playing video games, or working out and suddenly: drip. Asahi’s smile. Drip. Asahi’s laugh. Drip. Asahi’s rugged yet perfect face. Noya almost wished he had brough an umbrella, even though it was his own brain raining the image of Asahi on him.</p><p>He tried to push those thoughts as far away from him as he could when he was with Asahi. It became less of a gentle drizzle and more of a torrential downpour whenever he thought too much about it, and being with Asahi made him think terribly hard. So instead, he let his eyes close as they talked and imagined that the Asahi that he was talking to was different than the one in his head.</p><p>“Nishinoya?” He heard Asahi whisper, a low grumble emitting from his voice as he struggled to keep quiet.</p><p>“Mhm?” Noya responded.</p><p>“What do people think of me?”</p><p>Nishinoya’s eyes flicked open, adjusting to the dark. He could see Asahi now, the bottom half of his face covered in blanket, his worried eyes shining next to him, “What do you mean?”</p><p>“When we go to games, or at least in the past, people would give me looks. I never understood what they meant, and when I asked, people were too scared to tell me.”</p><p>“… You’re intimidating,” Nishinoya responded with certainty, “When we go to games, people come up with these crazy assumptions. They think you’re terrifying.”</p><p>“Terrifying?” Asahi turned over in his mouth, “Terrifying… I don’t think I want to be terrifying.”</p><p>“Well, it works for you! It freaks out the other team and makes them aware of your super crazy serves and spikes- a real ace!” Nishinoya smiled. Asahi bundled further down into the blanket until only his eyes were above the sheet.</p><p>“What about our team?” He asked so gently, Noya didn’t hear.</p><p>“Huh?” He asked, just above a whisper. Someone shushed him, so in full volume, Noya responded, “Shush yourself!”</p><p>“Go to bed!” Daichi hissed across the room. The distinct sound of Suga’s laugh followed.</p><p>Asahi and Noya snickered and grew quiet. Before Nishinoya could ask again, Asahi repeated, “What does the team think of me? I came back so late; I have no idea. The first years… I still can’t quite get a read on them. What they think of me.”</p><p>“I think they know your power,” Noya responded, “we’ve told them so. You’re respected as a strong player, and I think the first years know to recognize that.”</p><p>“So they’re not ‘terrified’?”</p><p>“No, I wouldn’t say that. But you do keep them in check, I think,” Noya thought about it, “You’ve got a naturally intimidating aura, no matter how much of a teddy bear you are, off the court!”</p><p>Asahi snorted, “Teddy bear?!” Someone from across the room sighed.</p><p>Noya blushed, he had stepped a bit too far. The rain was hard in his brain, and the idea of Asahi being a teddy bear was too much. How he would cuddle, just acting as a receptor for love and touches… Nishinoya became very quiet.</p><p>“Intimidating though… I don’t…” Asahi also grew quiet, “I don’t want to be intimidating to them. On or off the court.”</p><p>The room became still, it seemed like the rest of the players had fallen asleep. The sound of breathing became very loud with the overlap. Nishinoya tried closing his eyes again, not wanting to set Asahi off into a spiral. He could feel the anxiousness emanating off the gentle giant. He really <em>was</em> intimidating, but it was mainly driven by the focus of the game.</p><p>Nishinoya felt himself give off a similar, yet different energy. He was more of the rabid dog of their team while Asahi was the grizzly bear. It even made sense with how they played; Noya was the bite and bark with his excellent receives while Asahi swatted the ball down with his powerful paw. It felt equal, yet different.</p><p>“-ou think of me?” Nishinoya didn’t even realize Asahi was talking.</p><p>He didn’t even open his eyes this time, “Didn’t catch that.”</p><p>“What…” Asahi’s voice is trembling very slightly, “what do you think of me?”</p><p>Noya’s heart caught on the sentence, he opened his eyes and Asahi was staring at him. The rain stopped. It was the eye of the hurricane in many ways, for his brain became very clear. What did he think of Asahi? Well… he couldn’t deny his feelings to himself. He did it all the time to his teammates, but the others were asleep. He could let his brain be honest.</p><p>Did he want to be honest? Did he want to admit how handsome, rugged, amazingly sweet, and kind Asahi was to him? How he’d wanted to admit his feelings to his upperclassmen for so long, but it felt like all hope was lost after their fateful Date Tech game, when everything seemed to be ruined? How utterly devastated he was to hear Asahi wouldn’t be returning to the team, until he was convinced? Noya’s brain spun with questions; the eye had passed. The storm was devastating, and he could barely think.</p><p>Before he could fully formulate whether or not he even wanted to say anything honest, Nishinoya felt the words start to slip out of his mouth, “Kw-“ He stammered, which was rare for him.</p><p>Asahi watched in anticipation.</p><p>“Koa-woai!” He spits, as quietly as he can. It’s a single word, and it means everything. Cute. Asahi is so damn cute, it’s hard to even comprehend. Flustered by even saying it, Nishinoya didn’t realize that the three syllables have changed to two.</p><p>The hardest part of language, any language, is how devastating it can be to change the slightest sound of a word. The change of a vowel or accent can mean a world of a difference. Asahi doesn’t hear cute. He hears scary.</p><p>Asahi is scary.</p><p>What Nishinoya assumes as bashfulness, Asahi rolls over in his futon and goes silent, “W-well, y’know… how could I not think that? I mean, you have the face for it!”</p><p>Asahi flinches, “My face is scary?”</p><p>Like a brick, Noya realized what Asahi heard, “W-wait, I didn’t mean it like that!” Another hard shush from across the room.</p><p>“Just… go to bed. I’m tired,” Asahi whispers. His body goes limp and Noya recognizes him shutting down. It feels like a knife is slowly digging into him. He messed up, but to what extent? When they wake up tomorrow, is Asahi going to ignore him? Are they going to be on poor terms? Hell, what if he yells at him??? He was right, Asahi could be scary. But he wasn’t inherently scary to him, nor was he constantly afraid of him. If anything, Noya was more afraid of hurting him, as sappy as that sounded. </p><p>He reached out, meaning to touch the ace’s back, but held back. He had already caused enough damage, he only hoped in the morning his could try and fix it.</p><p>Noya could barely sleep.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>So that's really the max Japanese word mix-ups you'll see in the story, so don't worry if you don't see any A/N in the future about anything like that. </p><p>I also wanted to thank you if you've read this far!!! I've really planned out this fic from start to end, so I have no excuse not to finish it (don't look at my works from years past, except for the most recent. I have a story for that and I'm planning on finishing, but everything else was on a whim. I've learned from my mistakes, damnit!!!). I also have such a love for Haikyuu right now that I really want to finish this all the way through!</p><p>I hope you stick around and I hope you enjoyed!!!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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